25 Christmas Tales
by Poohdog
Summary: 25 Christmas-centric stories for the first 25 days of December.  Different Harry Potter times, characters, and places.  Canon pairings.  Characters reflect latest chapter.
1. Safe

**Harry Potter is not mine. It belongs to JKR and Warner Brothers.**

**Explanation: (skip if you want to just read fanfiction). I've been in a bit of a non-posting funk lately so I thought I'd move past it by making myself write and post one thing a day until Christmas (25 days). At least that's my goal. We'll see how I do. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to stick to book-canon couples (although I admit, Neville-Luna in the movie is adorable) if there is a couple involved at all. And I'm going to give them all some relation to Christmas. **

_Christmas 1997 (Deathly Hallows), undisclosed location (Order safe-house)_

Tonks was greeted with a rapid hug that nearly sent her flying backwards the instant after she, Remus, and Hestia had confirmed themselves to be who they looked like. Hestia pulled back smiling, a huge grin on her face. "You're here!" she yelped happily. "Dedalus!" she called out into the house as she dragged Tonks and Remus through the door. Harry's large uncle stared at them along with his wife as they entered. Their son was studying the ground. Dedalus came tramping down the stairs with a large sports bag in hand.

"Hello, Happy Christmas to you," he said, dropping the bag on the floor and squeezing past them to get to the cupboard next to the door. Tonks pressed her back against the wall opposite the closet and looked around. In front of her was an open area with a large tan sofa sitting next to the closet door that created a sort of corridor to the closed front door on the left and beginning of the stairs on the right. Dudley and Petunia were in chairs across from a coffee table in front of the sofa. There was a cabinet with a talking box full of pictures against the front windows, across from the open doorway into the kitchen.

"Happy Christmas," Remus replied, slipping past Tonks and leaning against a wooden table pressed against the wall of the "corridor" between the entryway and the sofa. Dedalus had tossed Hestia her cloak.

"Lovely to see you, really," Dedalus said, grabbing the bag back up again. "See you in a couple of weeks, right?"

"Right," Tonks agreed, looking at Hestia questioningly.

"Well, then, good-bye I suppose," he replied, giving both of their hands a quick shake.

"Happy Christmas!" Hestia called as she followed him out the door. It banged behind them, echoing through the room. Tonks looked at Remus in confusion and he tilted his head slightly to the side to say he was as oblivious as she was. It was definitely Hestia and Diggle. Hestia had used the Patronus Charm to prove herself and that certainly couldn't be faked. And Hestia had spoken for Diggle. The Dursleys were definitely the Dursleys; in order to make sure they weren't being followed, Tonks had cast a detection spell. Four fully-grown wizards, Hestia, Diggle, Remus, and herself, plus the three muggles, who she predicted to be the Dursleys, had been the only ones to make any mark at all.

"Err, wotcher," Tonks greeted to the silent Dursleys. Petunia had turned away, Vernon's eyes were moving up and down Remus's body, seeming to take note of the state of his cloak, and Dudley kept looking up at them and then down at the floor again. None of them said anything. Tonks moved toward the door and set the locks on it again.

"I'm sure Hestia and Dedalus have told you that we'd be switching out for a couple of weeks," Remus remarked. For a moment there was nothing until Dudley gave a small nod. "Right, well, we've met before but never officially," Remus tried again. "Ah, this is my wife, Nymphadora, err, Tonks. She likes to be called Tonks."

"I don't like my first name much," she explained. "I go by my surname, or did I suppose. I took Remus's surname so I suppose I ought to go by Lupin, shouldn't I? But it seems awkward for him to call me by his last name, not that he even does; he generally sticks to my first name so- so, um, it's Tonks," she explained, dying out half-way through. Both Dudley and Vernon were staring at her wordlessly. Petunia had taken to staring at a small patch of wall slightly to Remus's left, the closest she seemed to be able to come to looking at them. Tonks drummed her fingers lightly against her arm. A few more minutes of this and she would be desperate to run out the door just like Hestia and Dedalus had. Suddenly the behaviour of their fellow Order members didn't seem so odd. "Ah, what are you doing?" she attempted. Dudley jerked his head toward the box of moving pictures.

"Television," he responded. Tonks decided to move away from her safe wall and walk toward the sofa, standing against the opposite end of Vernon.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, trying to be interested. "Is Rudolph going to be on sometime? I used to watch that on video with my granddad."

"You watched television?" Dudley asked, looking at her straight on for the first time. Tonks saw Petunia's lips purse together though she still was refusing to look over at them.

"My dad's a muggle-born," she answered with a smile.

"We don't often watch Christmas specials," Petunia said harshly, finally looking over at Tonks. "Not the ones like that at any rate."

"Oh," she answered studying the room again. "Would you mind if we went and got settled?" she asked. She heard a grunt from one of them, took that as a yes and turned around toward Remus who was already heading toward the stairs. She quickly trampled after him, ending up in a small hallway upstairs. "How do we know which one Dedalus and Hestia normally have?" Tonks asked. Remus was looking around as well.

"I'm guessing the one with the door partially open," he suggested, moving toward the first door on the left. There was one door in the centre of the hall, one on the right, and two on the left. Tonks peered past Remus into the room and sure enough saw a cauldron sitting beside the dresser and a pair of twin beds that had been stripped of sheets. A clean set of blankets and sheets lay on the bed nearest the door. Tonks dropped her bag down by the cauldron as she used her heel to kick the door closed. Remus pulled his bag off of his shoulder.

"Is it just me, or does this house smell odd?" she asked him. "I keep thinking I'm at St. Mungo's," she added, wrinkling her nose as she began to unfasten her cloak. Remus had already hung his on the edge of the mirror.

"It is a little overly clean," Remus admitted as Tonks rolled her cloak up in her arms and dropped it on top of her knapsack. "But then I believe the Dursley's old house was the same way." Tonks nodded and moved over to the bed by the door and collapsed down on her back. Remus walked over and sat down beside her, picking up her legs and putting them across his lap so there was room for him to sit.

"The Dursleys are going to make this a holly-jolly Christmas, aren't they?" she snorted. He raised his eyebrows and she grinned, propping herself up on her elbows. "I say that Dedalus and Hestia owe us, majorly," she told him.

"Or perhaps the rest of the Order owes them," he mused. "We're merely paying a portion of our debt."

"I don't like your way of thinking," Tonks decided, manoeuvring to sit on the edge of the bed next to Remus. "I think I'll stick with mine. Are you hungry?"

"I suppose," he agreed.

"Good, because I'm starving," she told him, getting to her feet.

"I think you've been starving on and off for the past three months."

"I'm telling you, hormones apparently turn me into a teenage boy," she informed him as she opened the door, heading for the stairs.

"That's an appealing image," he said dryly, following her down. She chuckled to herself as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Petunia looked up and this time didn't look away.

"You're pregnant?" she asked bluntly, her eyes surveying Tonks's body and freezing on the bump that couldn't be seen as well through her cloak but showed quite well in the robe she was wearing, which stretched over her rounding stomach before flaring at her hips. Tonks became aware that now the other two Dursleys were also staring at her.

"Um, yes," Tonks answered. "About uh, five months."

"So you have kids like normal?" Dudley asked. His mother and father suddenly looked over at him as if he had asked something despicable.

"Well, I suppose so. What would be abnormal?" she asked him, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"They sent a pregnant woman and a man who looks ill to protect us?" Vernon grumbled looking over at them. Tonks glared at him and willed herself not to reach for her wand.

"She's an Auror, a dark wizard catcher, trained by Alastor Moody. I'm sure you remember him from the train station a year or so ago," Remus spoke up. "And if you'd like to know, I spend my full moons as a werewolf. If you want to question the danger we'd pose to anyone who would decide to threaten you then I'm sure we could arrange a minor demonstration," he said helpfully, reaching into his pocket and eyeing the sofa. Vernon shut his mouth and looked away. Tonks grinned lightly to herself before heading toward the kitchen.

The Dursleys, it appeared, did not improve once they got used to someone else being there. They also seemed to spend as much of their time as possible staring at one talking box or another, interrupted by Petunia's cleaning. Tonks and Remus found themselves up in their room most of the time, though Tonks had found out that if she wanted to sit in one corner of the sofa none of the Dursleys would come and sit on the other end, particularly Petunia.

It was the night of Christmas Eve when Tonks rolled off the bed they had made by putting both Hestia's and Dedalus's together, leaving the book she was re-reading behind on the bed. She had heard Petunia and Vernon heading upstairs and she knew Dudley had been on the computer in his room most of the day. Remus looked over at her from where he was writing. "I'm going downstairs," she told him.

"Okay," he answered as she headed toward the door. She turned around, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"You're coming too," she informed him.

"Am I?" he asked, still staring at the paper he was writing on though she noticed his quill wasn't moving and his eyes seemed bright, even though he wasn't looking at her.

"You're as bored stiff in here as I am, Remus," she reminded him. He raised his eyebrows.

"Oh you know me that well?" he asked her as she walked toward him. He was sitting in the chair kitty-corner from the door using a spell to levitate the paper in front of him and make it stiff enough for him to write. She didn't say a word as she paused in front of him and leaned over to read what his was writing. It was a crossword puzzle she knew he had done yesterday. He had covered up the clues and was attempting to solve it by memory. Tonks smirked at him.

"All right, fine, I'm bored but I don't see how going downstairs is going to change that."

"We're going to watch the television," she informed him.

"I hardly see the appeal of a talking box," he answered as she pulled his crossword puzzle and quill away and tossed them gently on to the bed next to her novel.

"It's something we haven't done yet," she explained, tugging on his arms. "And I want to play with the buttons. Come on Remus! I don't want to go down there alone. What if the Dursleys show up?"

"An Auror scared by three muggles who are most likely terrified by her hair?" he asked. Tonks nodded and used her best puppy-dog eyes.

"You're right, I need you to protect me," she told him, giving his arms a feeble tug.

"No you don't," he said definitively. She sighed and tried a slightly different tactic.

"You're not going to let me sit down there all alone on Christmas Eve when I'm carrying your child are you?" she asked, trying to make herself tear up a little. He glared at her and sighed as he got up from the chair.

"I'm bringing my crossword," he informed her heading for the bed.

"I like this pregnancy excuse. I might have to stay this way all the time," she said with a grin. He turned sharply, his expression a mixture of confusion and horror. She threw up her hands. "Merlin, Remus, I'm kidding! I'm already terrified enough I'm going to drop this kid once it's born."

"This kid is the last one, Dora," he told her as they headed for the door. "I mean it."

"Darn. Good thing we're having twins then," she replied on the landing. She saw an expression somewhere between surprise and terror cross his face for an instant before he glared at her. "Oops, I was going to tell you tomorrow," she grinned. "Molly only just showed me how to tell right before we left."

"Not funny, Nymphadora," he said as she began to laugh. "Not funny at all."

"The look on your face was priceless," she informed him. "I ought to have had a camera." He rolled his eyes at her but smirked a little as he got downstairs and then hit her with a pillow he got off the sofa.

Half-an-hour later, none of the throw pillows were left on the sofa or chairs. Tonks was sitting on the sofa with her legs drawn up next to her, leaning against Remus. He had his arm around her, his crossword abandon in his lap, staring at the Christmas specials on television with the same utter confusion she'd felt as a ten-year-old child, the first time she'd seen them. She almost moved when she heard heavy footsteps on the stairs but Tonks decided that they had just as much right to be here as the Dursleys and snuggled up to Remus even more closely. A moment later, she saw Dudley awkwardly enter the room standing in front of them. Tonks shifted where she was sitting.

"Mum's not going to be happy," he said glancing at the pillows on the floor, mixed with a few feathers. Remus pulled his arm back from around Tonks. Lazily, Tonks reached for her wand, making Dudley jump nervously.

"Oh I wouldn't hurt you," Tonks told him sleepily, flicking her wand at the pillows. They went tumbling back to their places, one of them hitting Remus in the head. He shook his head at her, a ghost of a smile on his face and then tossed it gently to the other end of the sofa. "Scourgify," she said, pointing her wand at the feathers. None of them moved. Remus sighed and shifted so that he could grab his own wand and then pointed it at the feathers. They were gone in an instant.

"That's useful," Dudley said, watching nervously as Remus stowed his wand away again. "I mean to be able to just get rid of things like that."

"Keep thinking I should learn my household spells better," Tonks replied.

"The problem isn't your knowledge, it's your personality. You're a slob, Nymphadora and it affects your spell work."

"Don't call me Nymphadora. And I am not."

"You are too," he answered stubbornly. Dudley was staring at them as though he had never seen people before.

"Fine," Tonks agreed, wrinkling up her nose. Dudley glanced away but then looked back at them as if there was something still floating in his head that he wanted to say.

"Something going on?" she asked him.

"I err, I wanted to ask you something," he replied, looking flustered. "I mean both of you something."

"Go ahead then," Tonks suggested, straightening out her legs. Remus put his arm over her shoulders again.

"It's about, well, about Harry," he said nervously. "I wanted- I mean is he- he's all right isn't he?" Tonks felt her stomach clench as Remus moved his arm again and leaned forward slightly. Tonks put a hand on his shoulder. "I well, Dedalus and Hestia, they didn't really know anything and-"

"That's about as much as anyone knows," Remus replied straightening up, his right leg bouncing up and down. Tonks put her hand on his left leg and he stopped bouncing his right. "I was the last person in the Order to see Harry as himself although we're presuming that another member saw him when he was impersonating someone else in the Ministry. Both incidents were months ago."

"So he's- he's- what does that mean?" Dudley asked, looking at them. Tonks stared at him, trying to figure him out by the look in his eyes. From what she had heard, he hadn't been the nicest person to Harry when they were growing up but right now he was doing a good impression of actually caring.

"We're assuming no news is good news," Remus answered.

"The other side would broadcast it proudly if they caught Harry," Tonks added trying to make herself sound happy that he hadn't been found but finding herself failing. She wished they could have been looking for him. He was barely of-age, no matter what experiences he'd had. "He and his friends want to remain hidden and that's what they're doing. We have to hope they stay that way."

"So you're not looking for him?" Dudley asked, seeming worried. "I mean obviously _you__'__re_ not looking. You're here but somebody has to-" he stopped as Tonks shook her head.

"We'd risk drawing more attention to him if we started searching for him. The last thing Harry needs is for a group of Death Eaters to follow us right to him," she answered.

"But you're doing something right?" Dudley protested. "You've got to be doing something. He's only seventeen. He's still a kid; he can't possibly do everything on his own. I- I couldn't," he ended feebly.

"There's not much we can do," Remus answered him. "Trust me, I did try. We're trying to track down Death Eaters, figure out their plans but it doesn't directly help Harry."

"The only thing we really can do," Tonks added, meeting Dudley's eye, "is pray." The three of them were silent again except for the network jingle that signalled the end or beginning of a series of commercials. Dudley seemed to be pondering all of this for a while. Tonks curled up against Remus again, suddenly feeling cold. He pulled her close as she began to feel fluttering kicks again in her stomach.

"You mind if I watch too?" Dudley asked after a moment, gesturing toward the television.

"Not at all," Tonks answered. Dudley sat down on the opposite end of the sofa as Tonks curled her legs up on the sofa again, one hand resting gently on the growing bump. She felt the baby move, safe and alive despite everything else. She closed her eyes and prayed that the only other child of the Marauders would reach his bed tonight the same way, safe and alive.

**Likes, comments, criticism, idea suggestions? Leave me a review, please!**


	2. Holiday Hexes

**I don't own Harry Potter. I think I've said that a lot of times before…**

"I'll get paid double?" Andromeda asked incredulously.

"Yes but I won't be the one here with you. I think Agatha is the one in charge that night. You'll probably be dealing with minor problems on your own."

"But I'll get paid double," Andromeda stressed again. Merlin could she use the money. They were going to have to move to another flat with the New Year and Nymphadora seemed to be growing out of everything. Andromeda's own robes were worn and Ted, working in the dirt with plants, went through clothes faster that students went through paper.

"Yes," Victoria agreed. "Are you sure you're up to it?" Andromeda nodded. She didn't need to ask Ted on this one. They had both been trying to figure out a way to pick up extra hours without leaving Nymphadora alone. Ted wasn't scheduled to work on Christmas Eve; they would be alright in that regard. "Fine. I'll tell Agatha you'll be working with her that night. But don't say I didn't warn you," her trainer told her. Andromeda nodded again and Victoria shook her head before heading off down the corridor.

Two days later and Andromeda was about to fall as she trampled up the slimy slush covered stairs towards their flat. She had worked an eight hour shift at St. Mungo's and she wanted to completely collapse. She hadn't known so many things could go wrong when families got together; she of all people should have known that families could be dangerous. She sighed and shoved open the door to the sound of Christmas music on the wireless and Nymphadora happily babbling away to Ted as he sat on the ground playing with her.

"Mama!" she yelped happily, toddling towards Andromeda as best she could. Ted got up from the floor and scooped Nymphadora up in his arms as Andromeda shut the door behind her.

"How was- oomph," Ted asked before she collapsed against him, her forehead on his shoulder.

"Mama," Nymphadora added sympathetically, patting Andromeda's head clumsily. Andromeda groaned and looked up again.

"Do you know how many places I've removed a peppermint stick from tonight?" she asked Ted. Nymphadora reached out her arms for Andromeda.

"Mama," she contributed again.

"It's official. There is a question I don't want the answer to," Ted replied, wrinkling his nose as Andromeda took Nymphadora from him, settling the fifteen-month-old on her hip.

"There was one man who came in with at least one peppermint stick poking out of every available place, including his navel. He looked like some sort of deranged peppermint porcupine," Andromeda informed him as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"That sounds pleasant," Ted called dryly from the kitchen. She could hear him banging around and she followed him.

"He wasn't the worst of the bunch," Andromeda told him. "There was one witch, so desperate to make the wizard she fancied like her, that she tried to enchant her hair into mistletoe."

"Not the strangest thing I've heard," Ted told her as he set the kettle on the stove.

"That's not the bad part. She accidently turned her entire self into mistletoe. She was completely green except for the berries that were springing out everywhere."

"So just as bad as the peppermint stick," Ted replied, flicking the kettle with his wand. Andromeda shook her head.

"The man with peppermint sticks wanted to be treated as soon as possible. She refused to be treated until the man she fancied gave her a kiss." Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Who comes up with these things anyway? Why does mistletoe even mean people have to kiss at the holidays?" Ted opened his mouth and Andromeda recognized the gleam in his eye that signified a long explanation. "Never mind," she said quickly. "Rhetorical."

"But it's-"

"Ted!" she argued.

"Dromeda!" he mocked. Nymphadora looked between them with wide eyes as if she had come to the realization her parents were both crazy. Then she stuck three fingers on her right hand in her mouth. The kettle on the stove began to whistle. "I'm guessing you don't want peppermint," Ted teased her.

"That would be correct," she answered primly before taking Nymphadora and turning her upside-down, hanging on to the little girl's torso. Her daughter giggled as Andromeda lifted her back up again. "After mistletoe witch, we got a wizard who had gotten into a fight with his brother over dinner and came in with antlers, hooves, fur, and a glowing nose." Ted snorted and began whistling something very chipper as he pulled a pair of mugs down from one of the cupboards.

"I bet you five sickles he was a muggle-born."

"Five sickles for me then. His sister-in-law was though."

"Damn-it," he replied. "I haven't got five sickles on me."

"Language Ted. Nymphadora's already picked up enough from you."

"She hasn't said anything truly bad yet," he countered, putting a tea bag into each of the mugs.

Andromeda sighed. "Why would you assume she was a muggle-born anyway?"

"Well you certainly didn't get the Rudolph reference, did you?" Ted asked picking up the mugs and heading toward the sofa again.

"Rudolph who?" she questioned, following him out of the kitchen.

"The Red-Nosed Reindeer," he told her.

"Come again?" Andromeda asked him. He shook his head.

"It's a Christmas carol."

"What do reindeer, even a red nosed one have to do with Christmas?"

"How else would Father Christmas get around?"

"He uses the Floo," Andromeda told him, sitting down.

"No, he uses his flying reindeer to make his sleigh go up in the air so he can deliver toys to all the children," Ted rebutted, sitting down next to her, leaning back lazily. Nymphadora squirmed in Andromeda's arms and she set the little girl down on the floor.

"Flying rein- Ted, you're mental," Andromeda informed him. "He uses the Floo Network and he has a bag with an undetectable extension charm on it."

"No, it's a sleigh."

"Floo," Andromeda argued.

"What's magic about the Floo Network?" Ted asked her.

"Are you joking?"

"I mean it's technically magic but it's not, you know, magical, surreal, imaginative," he said, searching for the right word.

"I'm sure Ignatia Wildsmith thought it was quite imaginative and magical," Andromeda countered.

"Ignatia Wildsmith was a crazy pyromaniac who burned down seven houses in his lifetime. It's by chance that he eventually invented something useful," Ted countered.

"We had one of those too!"

"Crazy pyromaniacs?" Ted asked her

"Yes," she agreed, scooting closer to his side.

"I should have bet on it and won my sickles back," Ted replied, lazily putting one of his arms around her.

"It was a little boy though, about seven. His parents let his older brother light the candles on the Christmas tree-"

"How old was his brother?"

"Second or third year but the Ministry doesn't care about little traditional things like that, especially when there's close parental supervision. At any rate, his little brother got jealous and then lit himself on fire."

"Oh God," Ted said, looking frightened.

"He wasn't hurt. Somehow whatever spell he managed to pull off protected himself from the flames. He just was basically a fireball. He apparently burnt down half their living room before they shooed him outside in the garden while they figured out what to do. Thankfully they don't live near any muggles."

"I'd reckon he was terrified though."

"No, absolutely thrilled," Andromeda replied. "He kept running around declaring he was the 'Human Torch'. His parents had to drag him in to be treated because he liked being able to set everything on fire. Dragged being metaphorical of course. His father was floating him in the air."

"How'd you get him to turn off?"

"We couldn't. We ended up giving him a mild sleeping potion. Once he was asleep, the spell died. He fell asleep stark naked in the middle of the floor. He'd burnt all his clothes off."

"You're not allowed to do that," Ted told Nymphadora who had come toddling back towards the sofa having dumped over the basket with her toys and then put half of them back in very methodically. Ted moved his arm from around Andromeda and picked up Nymphadora, settling her in his lap before putting his arm back around Andromeda's shoulders.

"Da," she commented snuggling into him. Andromeda shook her head at her currently white-haired daughter. Nymphadora looked back at her and then yawned.

"No turning into fire for you," Andromeda agreed.

"No," Nymphadora repeated and Andromeda held out her arms.

"Come here," she said. "Cuddle with me a little." Nymphadora crawled over Ted's legs into Andromeda's lap where Andromeda folded her baby up in her arms. Her daughter cuddled right back.

"So peppermint sticks, mistletoe, Rudolph, and fire?" Ted asked her.

"Mmm," Andromeda agreed. "That and a handful of wizards failing to create Father Christmas beards. One wizard accidently vanished his chin and another couldn't get the hair to stop growing. It filled the room before we got it to quit. And the usual family fight sort of things. Hexes that won't quit, turnips up people's noses, clothes that won't come off, you know the sort."

"Oh sure," Ted agreed. He stretched out his feet and knocked over his cup of tea with his foot.

"Ted!" Andromeda told him.

"Damn!" Nymphadora cried out.

"Ted!" Andromeda repeated.

"Dora, you had to grab that word?" Ted groaned as he bent down to deal with the mess

"Damn!" she repeated happily.

"No, Nymphadora, that's a bad word," Andromeda scolded turning her around.

"Damn," Nymphadora repeated with the same grin she'd had whenever she figured out a new word. "Damn-damn." Andromeda glared at Ted.

"See, imperfect ending to an imperfect day," he replied and then kissed her cheek before moving off to the kitchen so she had no chance to retaliate.

"Damn," Nymphadora voiced.

Andromeda shook her head. "Your Dad's in more trouble than peppermint stick man, did you know?" Andromeda asked her daughter as she stood up settling Nymphadora on her hip.

"Da t'ouble," Nymphadora answered seriously.

"Big trouble," Andromeda informed her. "Now what Holiday Hex shall I choose for your father?"

"I'm good with mistletoe!"

"Oh shut-up Ted!"

**Alright, I might be on a little bit of a Tonks family kick. I kind of like them. But I promise they'll be other people too.**

**Criticisms****? Idea suggestions? Likes? Leave me a review! :) **


	3. Best Christmas Present

**Still don't own Harry Potter.**

It was a crackling but high pitched cry that woke him up in the morning and Ron got out of bed quickly, hoping Hermione would sleep a little bit more. Squirming at the foot of the bed in a tiny bassinette was a little pink creature, secured in blankets. "Come here, Rose," Ron whispered, picking her up in his arms where she kept fussing. Hermione moved in her sleep, a few seconds away from waking up and Ron took the baby out of the room, closing the door gently behind him.

"What's got you awake?" Ron asked her in the hallway as he walked along to what would be Rose's room. They hadn't wanted to have her alone last night. She was so new, so tiny. Ron moved her to just one arm and let her little hand curl around his finger again. She was so perfect.

He set her down on the changing table and cleaned her up, glancing out the window. There was frost glistening over everything but no snow. Rose kept up her fussing until Ron had her in a clean nappy with her clothes on again. Then she stared at him. She had his eyes, blue eyes staring up at him.

"Do you know what day it is Rose?" he asked her. Then he reached down and picked her up again. "You haven't got a clue at all. You don't know one day from another. But I'll let you know. It's your first Christmas. And your grandmother Molly doesn't know yet. Actually, nobody from my family knows about you yet except Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny.

"Don't get me wrong," he told his daughter, moving downstairs, "I wanted to tell them. But your mum was pretty worn out and she didn't want to have my whole family all around. And her family is all muggle so we told them over the telephone because they can't come rushing over. But my family's all wizards and they'd come right over, wouldn't they?" he asked.

"Your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny though, they understand. Harry's my best mate, even after he married my little sister and she's one of your mum's best friends." Ron settled down on the couch. "You're not allowed to get married though, Rose. I'm saying that right now. Except you'll probably be a whole lot like Ginny and you'll get married anyway, even though she had six older brothers. And you're a girl," he told her. "A perfect little girl and our first so you don't have any older brothers. You've just got me. And obviously I'm not too great at it. My little sister married my best friend," he told her. He tugged his wand out from behind his ear and pointed it at the fireplace.

"You'll probably meet Uncle Harry first though. He's your mum's best mate too. I know, it's a little weird, but he's like a brother to both of us. If you'd been through what we'd been through you'd be like a sister to him too. But you're not going to," he told her. "No, no, no. You're going to be good and stay away from Dark-Lord-fighting-noble-nutcases like your uncle Harry because all three of us nearly died too many times and I'm going to keep you safe, have you got that?" he asked her. He stretched out his legs onto the coffee table, leaning back against the couch.

"Your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny already have a little boy, your cousin James. He's about a year old so you probably won't like him right away because he won't really know what to think about you. And then Ginny's going to have another baby in June so you'll have him or her too," he said. Rose yawned wide, her pink tongue and gums showing. Ron smiled.

"Your uncle Bill is the oldest and he's married to Fleur and they already have three kids. Victoire's six and she's going to love you. She's going to try and boss you around once you get old enough to crawl, but she's going to love you. Nique's four and she probably won't think very much of you until you can walk but that's okay. She's seen quite a few babies go through already," Ron told Rose, studying the small amount of hair at the top of her head, a few coppery strands. "Then there's Louis who's two. He's going to get into loads of trouble with your cousin Fred, I just know it," Ron told her.

"Fred is your Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's son. He's named after my other brother Fred but we're not going to talk about that right now," Ron told her seriously. "It's a little to sombre of topic for a newborn, especially a newborn on Christmas. But just know that we love him and miss him very much, especially Uncle George." Rose's eyes moved back to him for a second and Ron could almost swear she had understood him.

"Now, between Bill and George there are two of your uncles. Uncle Charlie isn't married and you probably won't see him until next year because he lives in Romania. So we'll just leave him out for now. And Uncle Percy is no fun at all, most of the time. He's married to a muggle though, named Audrey, who can be just as boring as he is but somehow they make each other laugh so we're all pretty happy for him. And they've got identical twin girls, your cousins Molly and Lucy. Percy didn't really want twins at all so we're all pretty sure Fred sent them as a final prank on Percy. Although he loves the two of them to pieces, don't get me wrong. They're a very loved pair of three-year-olds, I can tell you that. They're starting to have pretty different personalities though," he informed Rose. "Molly's the sweeter one. Lucy's the one who actually acts a whole lot more like your Grandmother Molly. We're not really sure what happened there. Audrey said her mother Lucy is more like your cousin Lucy than your cousin Molly too."

Rose's tiny feet curled as he ran a finger against the bottom of them. "That's about all for now. I won't tell you about Neville and Teddy and Luna today. That starts getting even more complicated. But they're all going to want to see you sometime too. Teddy maybe later than Neville and Luna. But see, here's the important thing, Rose. Everyone's going to love you. Most of them already love you and they don't even know you're here yet. And you don't know how brilliant that is. We won't let your Uncle Harry rant at you about the power of love until you're older as long as you know it's pretty important. But want to know something? I'm going to love you the most. You have no idea how long it took to get you here. So many fights with your mum while we were in Hogwarts because neither of us wanted to say we fancied the other. But we love each other. No matter if we do fight. It's fun fighting with your mother, but don't tell her I said that," Ron informed her. "Although she probably already knows. Your mother is just shy of knowing everything."

"I'll let you in on something I know though, Rose. You are the best Christmas present I ever got. Because you came just yesterday, did you know? On Christmas Eve. And you're beautiful and perfect Rose. That's something you should always know, even if you forget everything else, alright? You're beautiful and perfect, just like your mum. Even if you do have me in you, which I'm sorry about." He smiled down at the baby who had dozed off again and then looked up when he heard a creak on the floor and saw Hermione creeping towards him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her. She smiled at him.

"Happy," she answered as she came up to the couch. Ron scooted to make room for her and she leaned against him. "I got a good Christmas gift this year. The best I've every gotten."


	4. Sirius's Home

**The Black family isn't mine sadly. Nor is the rest of the Harry Potter world.**

Regulus peeked out of his room when he heard the last door slam. Sirius's door was shut tightly against the world and Regulus stared at it timidly. He wanted to go talk to his big brother but he also didn't want his parents to think he was on Sirius's side. So he stood, frozen in his own doorway, his stomach panging, completely empty. He had only been at dinner a couple of minutes before his mother and Sirius had gotten into a fight, and Regulus had slipped away from the table so he didn't have to listen anymore.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked gruffly, throwing open his door.

"I- I-"

"What?" he insisted.

"I was going to get something to eat," Regulus gushed.

"Oh," Sirius replied. "That's what I was going to do too," he added. "Come on." Regulus nodded and followed after his older brother. The two of them crept carefully down the stairs, trying their best to be quiet. Inside their mother's room Regulus heard her ranting to Kreature. Sirius, for all his bravery, looked a little pale as he walked past his mother's room. Regulus made sure he was extra quiet so Sirius didn't get caught.

"I'm not even going to come back over Easter," Sirius proclaimed when they got to the safety of the basement kitchen.

"But I'll miss you," Regulus said without even thinking it out.

"Oh, I'll see you during summer," Sirius told him, "and next year you can join me in Gryffindor."

"No I can't!" Regulus said quickly. "I'm not going to be in Gryffindor. I don't want to get in trouble."

"Fine, but you can't go to Slytherin. We couldn't be friends if you were in Slytherin," he said absentmindedly. "Maybe you could be in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff." Regulus was silent. He had always just assumed he would be in Slytherin. Everyone else in his family was or had been, everyone except Sirius that was. "Do you suppose Kreacher left any of the roast from dinner in one of the cupboards?" Sirius asked him.

"I don't know," Regulus replied, pulling himself up on to the counter. "Don't let me fall," he instructed.

"Alright," Sirius agreed and walking forward to stand behind him. Regulus began opening cupboards and glancing through them before closing them carefully so the noise wasn't too loud. "I wish Annie was coming for Christmas dinner tomorrow too," Sirius said rather quietly.

Regulus turned and looked at him sharply. "You're not supposed to wish that."

"But Cissy just ignores me since I got sorted into Gryffindor. And Bella-" Sirius stopped and shook his head. Regulus nodded and turned back to searching the cupboards.

"I wish she was coming too," Regulus said quietly as he shut another cupboard. "There's nothing up here," he added more loudly before turning around and jumping down. Last Christmas had been the first time they'd had Christmas dinner without Andromeda; she had said she was at school though Mother had told him she had lied and was actually consorting with mudbloods then too. Regulus didn't like the idea of Andromeda being around dirty people but that was who she was with, apparently.

"She could bring her husband. I'd be fine with it," Sirius added. "Mother would explode into a million pieces. It would be brilliant," he said with a huge grin.

"But Cissy said she married a mudblood, Sirius," Regulus reminded him.

"That's why Mother would explode if he came," Sirius added, as if Regulus had said something idiotic. Sirius didn't catch Regulus's look of confusion. He was bending down to look in one of the lower cupboards. Regulus shivered at the idea of a mudblood sitting around their table. He decided not to protest anymore. He didn't want to get into a fight with Sirius. He wanted Sirius to like him.

"Would you really not like me anymore if I got sorted into Slytherin?" Regulus asked him.

"You can tell the hat where you want to go," Sirius told him as he pulled a hunk of cheese out of the cupboard. "That's what Remus told me. He told the hat not to put him in Slytherin as he put it on and he ended up in Gryffindor right away. Although I think he ought to have gone to Ravenclaw. He's always too chicken to go in on pranks with James, Peter, and I unless he's sure he won't be caught. And he always tries really hard on homework. It's annoying. But James likes him and I guess he's growing on me. You'll like James. I'll introduce you sometime."

"Will he like me?" Regulus asked worriedly as he pulled a loaf of bread out of the breadbox.

"James likes just about anybody who's not into Dark Magic," Sirius replied. "And you're my brother," he added as if that settled it all. He took a knife out of one of the drawers.

"But what if I get sorted into Slytherin," Regulus protested.

"Just tell the hat not to put you there," Sirius shrugged, pulling out one of the chairs at the table and beginning to cut into the cheese he had found in the cupboard. Regulus sat down next to him. Sirius passed him a piece of cheese. Regulus didn't comment but passed over the bread after taking two pieces and making a cheese sandwich. Sirius was doing the same. He wasn't sure he didn't want to be in Slytherin. He didn't want to get in trouble with the rest of his family but he didn't want Sirius to hate him either.

"What about your other friends?" Regulus asked. "Would they like me?"

"I don't know," Sirius shrugged. "Peter probably would. He'd pretty much likes anyone James likes. And Remus would probably like you more than he likes me. He hasn't said anything but I don't think he likes it when we do something that might get us in a lot of trouble. I'm not sure why the hat thought he was brave enough to be in Gryffindor."

"But he's your friend," Regulus replied. "You found friends even though you weren't in Slytherin." Sirius nodded, his mouth full of bread and cheese. "So I could?"

"Course," Sirius told him. "You'll find your own friends in whatever house you're in. I'm thinking Hufflepuff, right by the kitchens."

"Right," Regulus said vaguely. He tried to imagine his mother's reaction if he ended up in a house other than Slytherin. It wasn't pleasant. He remembered her yelling when she first heard (in a letter from Narcissa) that Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor of all places. Regulus had hid in his room until she had gone to bed. Kreacher had been very nice and thought to bring Regulus food.

"You'd love Hufflepuff. I know it's not as cool as Gryffindor but most of them are pretty nice. You'd make a lot of friends."

"I'd like that," Regulus replied. The idea of friends sounded very nice. He had a few boys he played with from time to time, others from pureblood families but most of the time he was lonely. He had counted down the days until Sirius returned for the Christmas Holiday, desperate to have his brother around again. Sirius had come back with a lot of tales about his new best friend James and Regulus struggled not to feel displaced; he struggled not to still feel lonely.

"Want to play a game of Exploding Snap before bed?" Sirius asked, finishing off his sandwich. Regulus nodded enthusiastically and shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

"Let's go," he replied. The pair of them crept back up the stairs before settling in Sirius's room, covered in red. Regulus pretended all the red was for Christmas, not for Gryffindor. He made himself forget that January was coming and his brother would leave him all over again. He was just glad to have his brother.

**Comments, critisism, likes, or whatever, leave a review if you have the time.**


	5. Wake Up!

**Harry isn't mine, nor are his awkwardly named children. **

"Wake-up, wake-up, wake-up!" a voice called. Harry groaned and rolled toward the bedside table, glancing at his watch, being careful not to knock the little girl who had appeared at his side off the bed on to the ground.

"It's too early. Go back to bed Lily," he mumbled.

"Daddy! It's Christmas," Lily complained. "James is up already."

"Well he's not in here is he? Go back to bed for at least another hour Lily," Harry instructed.

"Daddy!"

"Go back to bed, Lily," Ginny seconded, rolling over on to her side from her stomach to look at her daughter. "It's too early." Lily sighed and rolled off the bed, marching out of the room. Harry rolled back over, closer to Ginny and she snuggled back into him, spooning against him. Harry began drifting back off to sleep.

"Mum, Dad, Lily won't leave me alone!" James cried out.

"James, you're going to get me in trouble!" Lily whined after him. Harry groaned and buried his face in Ginny's hair. Ginny pushed him back slightly and sat up, one of her feet entangling with Harry's.

"Lily, go back to bed and leave your brother alone. James, go back to sleep," Ginny told them. Harry rubbed his eyes and sat up as well.

"Can't we just-"

"Listen to your mother James," Harry interrupted, using a harsher voice that was crackling with sleep.

"But-"

"Now," Harry instructed. Both of them went storming off, out into the corridor. Ginny flopped back down on the bed and Harry lay down next to her, spooning against her again. Her hair smelled good in his nose and he reached an arm around her, pulling her closer. Her feet tangled in his calves, keeping her feet warm.

"It's been an hour right?" Lily interrupted. Down the hall, Harry heard the toilet flush and assumed it was James.

"No," Harry mumbled into Ginny's neck.

"Lily, we will come and get you when it's time for you to wake up. Go back to bed," Ginny told her.

"But that will take forever!"

"Lily!" Ginny cut her off. Lily went marching off again. Ginny sighed as she settled back against Harry and he kissed her neck where it smelled like her hair. She hummed contentedly and then yawned.

"Mum! Dad! James came into my room and sat on me!" Albus proclaimed, running in through the door.

"James Sirius Potter!" Ginny called out, squirming away from Harry.

"It's still dark out. I thought it was my room," James argued as Ginny got out of bed. Harry sat up and began feeling around for his glasses. He grabbed them off the bedside table and looked over at his son who was standing by the door in red and white pyjamas looking fully annoyed.

"Happy Christmas Albus," Harry told his son as he got to his feet. Albus's annoyed face broke into a grin.

"Happy Christmas. Can we go downstairs now?"

"I want about forty-five minutes more sleep," Harry told him, walking over towards Albus. "Go back to bed."

"I don't think I could sleep," Albus argued.

"Then read for a while," Harry suggested. Albus wrinkled his nose.

"I'm not Rose."

"Well then find something else to do in your room, quietly," Harry instructed. Albus sighed and walked out of the room as Ginny walked back in, rolling her eyes.

"I told James if he doesn't stay in his room and leave Albus and Lily alone until we come and get him then we're going to start picking which of his presents to take back," Ginny informed him.

"That was a stroke of genius."

"I have my moments," Ginny confessed. Harry yawned as he removed his glasses and placed the back down on the bedside table before sitting down on the bed. Ginny had already pulled back the blankets and attempted to get settled in again. Harry lay down next to her and attempted to fall back asleep. A few minutes passed in silence. "Can you sleep at all?" Ginny asked.

"No."

"Me either."

"Should we go get the kids?"

"It'll be good for them to learn patience," Ginny replied.

"And for us?" Harry asked her, sitting up and putting his glasses back on his face.

"I could think of something we could do to pass the time as," Ginny suggested. Harry turned and looked at her, just before she began kissing him. It lasted for only a moment before the door came banging open again.

"Ew!" Lily cried out.

"Lily!" Ginny scolded. "You were told to go back to your room."

"I'm thirsty. I wanted to go downstairs and get a drink of water."

"No, Lily, go back to bed," Ginny told her sharply. "Or at least play quietly in your room."

"But-"

"You can wait Lily. You're not dying of thirst," Harry said, cutting Lily off. Lily marched off again. "Think we could chance a silencing charm so we can ignore them?"

"You know the minute we do James will blow something up, or Albus will fall out the window attempting get the snow off his window sill or Lily will flood the bathroom attempting to get herself a drink of water from the sink," Ginny reminded him.

"Oh that," Harry replied.

"Mmm," Ginny answered. Harry sighed and stared at the ceiling.

"Happy Christmas, Ginny."

"Mmmph," she replied, rolling over and burying her head in her pillow.

**Sorry this one's so short. I started writing something else and it ended up kind of non-Christmassy. Might still post it. At any rate, open to suggestions for other story ideas. I've got 20 more to do and I usually find prompts a good challenge.**


	6. Toy Broomsticks and Tape

**Harry Potter may not actually be mentioned by name in this particular chapter, however the Harry Potter world is, and I do not own any part of it.**

Aiden was more entertained by the wrapping paper than he was by his gifts and Katie was laughing. His hand got caught on a piece of spellotape and he shook his hands wildly, his eyes wide as he attempted to dislodge it. Within a couple of seconds, his hand headed right towards his mouth and Katie grabbed his hand before it got to its destination. "Yucky," Katie instructed him. Aiden stared back up at her with wide brown eyes. Katie folded the tape over, attempting to get it off her finger. It kept slipping from one finger to another and she glared at it until Oliver started laughing at her. Then she turned and glared at Oliver before getting up and heading towards the chair where he was sitting, kissing him gently. She brushed her hand through his hair before she turned back towards Aiden who was crawling across the floor on the wrapping paper.

"You put it in my hair," Oliver accused her as he began swiping through his hair, trying to find the piece of tape.

"You're paranoid," Katie replied, scooping up Aiden in her arms before he went after the Christmas tree again. Between him and the dog, Oliver and Katie had only been able to put ornaments on the top half of the tree. Aiden was ten-months-old, standing with help and crawling. He was convinced the tree had been put there for his benefit, no matter how many times he was told no and one of his parents swiped him away, afraid he was going to pull it down on himself. "I'm going to go get him dressed," she said, settling Aiden on her hip. "Let the dog in, won't you?" she asked before heading upstairs to Aiden's room, not waiting for an answer. Oliver got up, finally abandoning his search through his hair for the tape to let in Bludger, their all-black Labrador. The dog came bounding in the back door to the kitchen, shaking himself to get dry; he'd been rolling around in the thin layer of snow on the ground. Then he attempted to jet past Oliver into the carpeted living room, still wet and somewhat muddy. Oliver reached out and barely caught the dog's collar in time.

"No," he scolded, pulling his wand out of his pocket. Bludger squirmed about, trying to get free as Oliver began using his wand to blow hot air all over the dog. It was ten minutes of struggle before Oliver finally let the dog go bounding off toward the living room to attack the wrapping paper with more vengeance than Aiden had. He put his wand back in his pocket and frowned when he heard a crinkling noise near his elbow. There was the piece of tape. He shook his head and started up the stairs as he pulled it off his pyjama sleeve.

"Oh, good, take him," Katie instructed, shoving Aiden into his arms as Oliver got to the top of the stairs. "I want a shower. Don't let him fly until I get done."

"Take away all the fun," Oliver told her, following her towards the bathroom. She shook her head at him and then shut the door. Oliver sighed and took Aiden to his and Katie's bedroom, setting his son down on the floor. Katie had thrown a skirt and jumper on top of the bed. They were headed to Katie's parents' home later which required muggle clothes, quite unfortunately. Not to say Oliver didn't like Katie's muggle father but he was a little dull; he never seemed to want to talk about Quidditch for more than five minutes even though Oliver played for Puddlemere United and Katie worked for the International Association of Quidditch (IAQ). Granted, of course, the man could certainly go on about football and basketball. Normally he and Katie ended up playing basketball in the driveway of the Bells' when Katie visited.

Oliver stuck the piece of tape on Katie's skirt and then began to get dressed himself, keeping half an eye on Aiden who was currently observing Bludger's dog bed. He heard thumping on the stairs as he was pulling on a shirt and a moment later, Bludger came nosing into the room, sniffing all over the little boy who had settled in his dog bed. He seemed to decide he rather liked having Aiden there since he ended up licking Aiden's face. Oliver sighed and pulled his giggling son out of the dog bed before he became completely encased in dog slobber. "Could you go back to be frightened of the dog?" he asked as Aiden squirmed, trying to get back down. Ever since he had started crawling, Aiden's once fear of being trampled by the dog whenever he was on the floor had changed to complete love and adoration. Oliver was half certain his son's first word was going to be "woof" or "Bludger". Although "Bludger" wouldn't be all bad. Oliver was fairly certain his son would become a Beater eventually. He had a surprising amount of strength for someone so little.

"You really ought to be a Beater," he informed Aiden. "With your mum as a Chaser and me as Keeper we'd have at least one family member on every position except Seeker. I suppose we'd have to give you a brother or sister for that," he told Aiden.

"That's not happening any time soon," Katie said entering the room in a towel, her bra straps showing over her shoulders. "We had enough trouble having Aiden. And I can't travel for work as well when I'm pregnant," she added, sitting down on the edge of the bed to pull on a pair of tights. Oliver decided not to comment. Admittedly, he wouldn't have been opposed to having four more children to fill up a whole Quidditch team but at the moment Aiden was a big enough handful. Added to that, due to the curse from the necklace when she was seventeen, it was hard for Katie to conceive. Aiden had been born healthy and strong but he had come after two years of trying.

"We could adopt."

"Oh yes, there's a good reason to adopt. 'We want to build a Quidditch team. Have you got any infants that look like they would be good Seekers?'" Katie asked, her voice light and playful.

"Would you really be opposed?"

"Not particularly," she admitted as she ran her hands over her skirt to straighten it. She walked up and leaned her head against Oliver's side, her arm around him for a moment, smiling serenely. "Want to see how he does on the toy broom?" she asked, pulling away and looking up at Oliver.

"Of course."

Aiden's toy broom was downstairs. Technically, he wasn't quite old enough for it but Oliver and Katie had decided that wasn't going to stop them. After all, Aiden was nearly walking and he already loved flying. It would have been troublesome if he hadn't; he was barely a month old when he'd first gone up in the air in a baby backpack strapped to Katie's front. He had been fascinated by the toy broom when "he" had opened it (Oliver and Katie had to open his presents otherwise he scrunched the wrapping paper, unaware anything was inside).

Oliver and Katie went downstairs with Aiden in his father's arms. Bludger, realising he'd been left alone, came running after them, attacking the large piece of wrapping paper he'd apparently dragged to the foot of the stairs before seeking his family upstairs earlier. "Are you ready to try flying, big boy?" Katie asked as she pulled the toy broom from off the sofa. Keeping just a finger on the top of it, it hovered a few inches above the ground. Aiden stared at it curiously before Oliver put him down on it, kneeling down to keep a hand at his son's back and another hovering just in front of his stomach in case he began to fall. The broom rose so that Aiden's toes were drifting slightly over the edge of the carpet. His eyes grew wide before he grabbed on to the stick in front of him. He let go when it began to move, startled by his own power, though Oliver kept his hand at Aiden's back.

Aiden reached forward and put his hands on the front of the broom again, causing it to move slowly forward. Oliver grinned widely and Katie clapped. Bludger took a moment to notice and then went slightly insane, trying to figure out why the "pup" of the family was now hovering like his two masters. Aiden moved forward to the point where Oliver couldn't keep his arms easily surrounding him anymore and Oliver pulled him off the broom. "You're definitely going to be a good flier," he informed his son, tossing him up in the air. Aiden laughed. Bludger began to bark in annoyance; he was being ignored.

"Quite natural," Katie added as Oliver settled Aiden on his hip. "Out of curiosity, why do you have a piece of tape on your back?" she asked, overly innocently. Oliver turned to grab the same piece of tape that had been haunting them that morning and then carefully put Aiden down before dashing towards Katie with the tape in his hand. She took off running, laughing as Bludger barked and Aiden stared. Oliver finally managed to grab a hold of her and put the piece of tape on her forehead. She kept laughing as she turned around in his arms and put her arms around his neck, leaning in to kiss him. For a moment he was intent on kissing her back and then realized there was definitely something sticking to his face between his eyebrows. He pulled away, still keeping one arm around her as he pulled the tape off his forehead. She squirmed to get away, laughing and managed to slip out of his grip.

"Get back here!" Oliver insisted, his face in a grin. Bludger reached him and sniffed at his hand then licked it. Oliver blinked and then looked at his hand. The tape was gone and Bludger was moving his mouth a lot, looking distraught before finally spitting out the tape. Katie glared at the slobbery piece of tape on the ground.

"You are not sticking that on me."

**I wrote this one at Linny-Marie's suggestion. I've never written Oliver/Katie before so hopefully it turned out alright. Any comments, criticisms, suggestions, or ideas are more than welcome!**


	7. Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer: This is disclaimed.**

Dora groaned when he suggested that they go to Diagon Alley and he almost wanted to shake her. Ted loved Diagon Alley. He still remembered how amazing it had been, walking through the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron into the midst of all the incredible wizarding shops, so many astounding things that Ted had never seen before. He was still fascinated with it, liking everything from the window displays to just people watching. Yet apparently his ten-year-old daughter was bored by the idea of it.

"Dora, I need to buy something for your mother for Christmas so unless you want to stay here on your own, you need to come with me."

"How come Mum isn't coming with us?" Dora asked, looking completely perplexed. She was sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace working on a puzzle of a dragon. The picture kept moving around, both the pieces she had together and the pieces scattered around the ground and still in the box. The movement provided a clue towards the direction of the piece but it also added a level of complication that Ted had been delighted to find after plain muggle puzzles.

"She's at work," Ted replied. Wasn't that obvious?

"Yes, I know but we never go to Diagon Alley without Mum. You and Mum always said that you shouldn't go out in public as the only adult."

"That was because of the war, Dora. It wasn't safe before to go out alone. Now it's alright."

"Oh," she answered, looking perplexed. "Really? I didn't know that." Ted stared at her incredulously. Of course habits he and Andromeda had developed over the years because of the war were hard to break but it often struck him just how much his daughter had internalized the rules without even thinking they were related to the war. After all, up until a little over a month ago, his daughter had never lived in a world where You-Know-Who didn't have power. He sometimes wondered if it wasn't as big of a difference as he had felt at eleven between the wizarding world and the muggle world. "I guess I'd prefer to go than stay here alone," Dora replied, beginning to put some of the spare pieces back in the box.

"If you guess," he said, rolling his eyes at her but smiling. She grinned back. "You can leave the pieces you have together out," he told her as she moved to start taking it apart. Dora stopped and he reached out his hands. She grabbed them and he yanked her up at the same time she bounced to her feet, getting a fairly good amount of air for a second. Still, it wasn't the same as when she had been small enough to lift above his head and play airplane.

"Does my hair look alright?" she asked him.

"Just fine Dora although no mentioning to your mother that I let you go out with your hair bright pink."

"She probably won't mind if I'm just with you not her," Dora replied steping to the fireplace and jumping up on the bricks in front of the fireplace to search for the jar with Floo Powder on the mantle. "She said she just doesn't like people judging her because it looks like she let her ten-year-old spell her hair pink. That's why she doesn't mind when I'm around home. Except when we lived near muggles and I had to be careful," she added. "But that's entirely different."

"Your mother worries too much about people judging her," Ted informed her. "Though I suppose part of that's my fault. Ready? I'm going to apparate. I'll meet you in the alley."

"You are?" she asked, sounding nervous. The jar was in her hands, though she hadn't taken any yet.

"What's wrong?" Ted asked, frowning worriedly as he looked at her. Her hair was dimming, and her eyes had lost part of their glitter.

"I've never gone through the Floo to Diagon Alley by myself before," she told him, looking down at the ground. "You and Mum always said it would be dangerous and something could happen to me if there was someone bad at the Leaky Cauldron and I got there before one of you did."

"Nothing's going to happen to you," Ted told her, walking up and brushing through her hair with his fingers. She looked up at him with wide, trusting eyes. "There's no one for you to be afraid of at the Leaky Cauldron anymore. The Death Eaters aren't all gone, but they're not going to waltz into public anymore. And most of them wouldn't care a bit about you except for the Lestranges and they're in Azkaban, alright?" Ted informed her.

"Alright."

"I can still go with you if you want," Ted suggested. He wouldn't mind, really. The less he had to let go of Dora being a baby, the better, although he supposed as a parent he ought to let her grow.

"No," she said, her voice quite determined as she set the jar on the bricks in front of the fireplace. "I can do it. I'll meet you there."

"Alright," Ted agreed before Dora grabbed a handful of the Floo powder and threw it into the flames.

"Diagon Alley!" she said clearly and then stepped into the flames. Ted disapparated the moment he saw her disappear from his sight. He arrived in the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron and he waited a moment feeling his stomach tighten when he didn't see Dora there immediately. He knew Floo was slower and that she had to walk from the pub to the alley but it was instinct. After all, Dora wasn't the only one their war rules had affected. It was only a moment more, however before Dora walked out the door and grinned at him. Her eyes were bright again. He reached out his hand for hers and then tapped his wand against the brick, letting the archway spread open.

"There's a lot of people here!" Dora told him.

"It's nearly Christmas," Ted replied.

"But there's never this many people here!" Dora replied.

"Yes there-" he started and then realized that Dora had never been to Diagon Alley at all before people hurried through their shopping and darted away for fear of being out in the wizarding public for very long. "It used to be normal. I remember I once came here over my Christmas Holiday from Hogwarts and it was so packed my sister and I went in a store just to get out of the crowd in the street."

"I thought your sister was a muggle," Dora said, frowning. Ted felt that tug of sadness he always did when he remembered the Dora had never met his family. She hadn't met Dromeda's either for that matter but Ted personally didn't consider that any loss. It would have put his family at risk to return too often, particularly if he had taken Dromeda with him. His parents hadn't seen Dora since she was less than a week old. They would see her again at Christmas though.

"She is," Ted replied, "but she's allowed to know about the wizarding world because of me. I brought her with me. Muggles are allowed to come to Diagon Alley in cases like that. How else would muggle-borns get their school supplies?" Ted asked her. "My mum and dad took me when younger. My sisters Lisa and Kitty came too."

"I've never seen any muggles here," Dora insisted.

"If they're here for any reason, I'm sure they've hurried through just as much as wizards," Ted replied. "What did you want to get your mother for Christmas?"

"I don't know," Dora confessed.

"Well we can look around," Ted told her. "I don't know what I'm getting her either."

"So we can go slow?" Dora asked him.

"Yes."

"And stop and look in the windows?" Ted nodded. "Do we have to hold hands still?" Dora asked him. Ted let go of her hand reluctantly. She was ten. She wasn't about to get lost and in trouble. But he still wanted to hold her hand.

"Then can we go look at the owls?" Dora asked him. "Just look, please? I've always wanted to go in there and you've always said we had to hurry up. Please, please?"

"Will go there last," he told her. "Let's start at the far end and walk back."

"Alright!" she agreed excitedly and started walking along beside him.

"The decorations are really pretty," she said, pointing at one of the passing windows. "Look, look! They've got mini-broomsticks flying around the window," she added as she pointed at another one.

"They're all trying to compete with each other for attention. I used to love all the windows when I first saw them at Christmas-time."

"You don't now?"

"Alright, I still love them," Ted agreed as Dora got a little bit ahead of him. Then he laughed. "Hold up, Dora," he added.

"Come on," she said, reaching out her hand and taking his. "They've got fireworks in the window over here!" she told him excitedly. Ted chuckled and went after her, glad to have her hand in his for just a little longer. You-Know-Who would hopefully never even know her name but he had stolen a lot from her. She had missed out on living in a house long enough to have good childhood friends. Since she was very small, she had learned to be frightened for her life. She'd missed out on experiences that had littered his childhood like being free to ride a bike around town or stay over at a friend house. And yet, she was still a bright, happy, loving little girl. She was his.

"Dora, look!" he said pointing at one of the window displays.

"Wicked!"


	8. Hairy Arguement

**I don't own Harry Potter and therefore I don't own the Tonks family.**

Ted opened the door of the house to hear arguing and he sighed, walking out of the lounge and through the corridor, throwing his cloak on the sofa as he went. "I'm not a baby!" Dora insisted.

"This has nothing to do with you being a baby," Dromeda argued back. "You know you can't control your hair overnight. You need to not have it morphed now."

"My hair is boring. I don't want to," Dora whined.

"Dora, listen to your mother," Ted said, entering Dora's room. His daughter was standing next to her bed, a glare on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. Her hair was a very bright pink.

"I don't want to!" Dora yelled. He saw it flash in her eyes the moment the words left her mouth that she wanted to take them back. Her dark eyes moved for a moment from Ted's own disappointed look to her mother's livid one and then down at the floor. Her hair started sliding through colours in such a way that Ted was fairly sure she wasn't trying to be defiant by changing her hair; it was slipping through her distressed colours, a sign her emotions had taken over and she had lost control of her morphing.

"It's not negotiable, Nymphadora. You're still a child and my child at that. If I tell you to do something, you will do it. And you may not yell at me," Dromeda told her with a voice that was cool and somewhat removed. Dora looked like she wanted to sink through the floor. "You're grounded for the next week except for going to Christmas with your father's family."

"Dad," she started, her voice pleading as she looked up at Ted.

"Nymphadora," he returned, his voice back to the tone it somehow always assumed when she was in trouble. It had scared her away from the fireplace when she was a toddler and it made her back down now. She sat down on the bed and looked down at her feet, snuffling. Dromeda turned from the room and Ted followed after her.

"What happened?" he asked quietly as he shut Dora's door behind him. Dromeda held up her hand in a vague sort of gesture and kept moving along the hallway. Ted followed after her into the lounge.

"I told her she needed to wear her hair at its natural length and colour while we were with your family over Christmas and she started to argue. I told her it wasn't an option and she kept arguing. Normally she knows when I'm serious but she just kept going." Dromeda shook her head and sat down on the sofa. "She knows better."

"I know she does," Ted agreed sitting down next to her. "Anything else interesting today?" he asked her.

"Your owl caught a mouse in the crawl space. Other than that, not really," Dromeda replied with a yawn. "How about you?"

The two of them were still talking a few minutes later when Dora walked softly into the room. Her eyes were puffy though she didn't appear to be crying anymore. Her hair was back to pink. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"For what?" Ted asked her.

"For yelling. And not listening," she added, looking at them with her shoulders slumped.

"You're forgiven," Dromeda said gently. "You're still grounded but you're forgiven." Dora nodded. "Want to tell me what's bothering you now?" Dromeda persisted. Dora looked down at the ground and seemed like she wasn't going to speak for a moment. She looked pitiful.

"Come here, love," Ted said calmly. Dora looked up at him and then hurried over into his arms, hugging him hard as she buried her head against his chest. "What's wrong?" he asked. She didn't answer for a moment more and seemed to be trying to put herself together again. Then she pulled away, her eyes meeting Dromeda's instead of Ted's.

"I thought they were supposed to like me for me but you said I have to change my hair," Dora managed to get out, her voice a little higher than usual as if she were still fighting not to cry. "I only have to do that with people I'm supposed to lie to."

"Nymphadora, they'll love you no matter what," Dromeda told her.

"Then why do I have to have my hair all boring?"

"Because it's the law," Ted told her. "My parents, my brother, and my sisters all know about the wizarding world but their spouses and kids aren't allowed to know unless one of my nieces or nephews turns out to be a witch or wizard. It has nothing to do with you, Dora," he assured her. Dromeda reached out and stroked Dora's head.

"They cared about me when I was seventeen and just showed up at their door to find Ted," she said. "Your grandparents were very nice to me. I know they'll love you. If they can love me, they won't be able to stop from loving you." Dromeda leaned over and kissed Dora's head. "You're much easier to love."

"That's not true," Dora told her.

"Oh yes it is," Ted laughed. "Your mother fought tooth and nail against my falling in love with her. And her falling in love with me for that matter." Dora looked at Dromeda for confirmation.

Dromeda smiled at her. "Completely true. You'll be fine Dora. I promise it. They'll love you. If they can love me after all the danger I put your father in, they'll love you, no questions asked." She gave Dora a one-armed hug. "And besides, who you are isn't based on your ability to do magic, Dora. I'd love you all the same if you had been born a squib instead of a metamorphmagus. Changing your hair shouldn't define you, alright?" she asked. Dora nodded.

"Alright."

**Sorry about not posting the last couple days. Things got busy with the last two days of classes for the semester and some events in my house. Hopefully I'll manage to make up those two during break (or maybe during finals when my brain's dead towards everything else). Sorry this chapters awfully short.**


	9. Don't Be Alone

**I have no ownership of the Harry Potter enterprises.**

The bed next to her was empty. Narcissa Malfoy took a deep breath and stepped out of bed, grabbing her dressing gown off the post at the end of the bed as she went. Lucius was nowhere to be seen. She remembered him getting out of bed but she didn't remember how long ago. The floor seemed cold as she moved across it towards the door. Narcissa's ears strained for the sound of anyone moving around in the large house; she heard nothing. There were a pair of slippers by the door and she put them on before heading out into the corridor. The house seemed even more big and empty outside the door.

Narcissa had only been married a couple of months. It was her first Christmas away from her family and she had intended to enjoy it. But now she almost missed them. She shook her head. She wasn't going to get sentimental. Her parents had moved away to Spain nearly the moment Narcissa had been married. Bella was gone most of the time and Annie, well, whatever was beyond gone, that was where Annie was. There wouldn't have been anyone worthwhile at home even if she wasn't married.

_Bella was supposed to come home. Narcissa wanted her to come back but it was an hour after Mother and Father had told Bella and Rodolphus to come by and no one was there but the three of them. Narcissa stared across her room at her wardrobe. Her dress from last night was hanging off the edge. She had gone to a party, her first after turning of age earlier in the month, and the party had brought in Christmas on a happy note. She had laughed and danced and everything had felt perfect. Now everything was back to the way it had been before._

_ Narcissa got up from her bed and walked over to the bedroom next door to her own. It was too neat; it looked like a guest bedroom, which she supposed it was now. It wasn't supposed to be. This room had once had a resident, a girl who had books on the bedside table and letters in the desk drawers. There had been pictures on that wall over there but the wallpaper had been taken down and replaced since Andromeda had left; not even the faded areas where the frames had been could be seen anymore._

_ "What are you doing in here?" a voice said sharply. Narcissa turned and saw her mother, hesitating outside the door._

_ "I was looking for a quill," she answered._

_ "Look downstairs. There wouldn't be one in here." Narcissa nodded and moved to leave the room. "We're starting dinner without your sister. Come down," her mother ordered._

_ "Alright," Narcissa agreed. She followed her mother down the stairs and sat in the emptiness, trying to ignore the empty spaces at the table. She tried to pretend that Bella wasn't likely doing anything dangerous, tried to pretend Andromeda wasn't cuddling a mud-blood's baby. She tried to pretend she had always been the only one; that this wasn't the first year that Andromeda was supposed to be forgotten and Bella was actually a Lestrange._

Narcissa reached downstairs and still saw no signs of Lucius. He hadn't even left a note which generally meant that he'd had to leave right that minute. She sighed as she moved to the kitchen. The young house elf was off somewhere else and she didn't feel like having his company at the moment. Narcissa set about making her own coffee. She was tired, though not a bit sleepy. She couldn't have slept any more if she'd tried. It was the tiredness that set in from feeling stuck with nothing to do. Sometimes she swore she could feel her brain rotting in her head. Then again, maybe having a rotten brain would equal a rotten memory, and if there was anything Narcissa wanted to do away with, it was her memory.

Bella, of course, had suffered no such thing when she had left school or when she had gotten married. Then again, Bella's marriage was a sham anyway in Narcissa's opinion. Bellatrix had no loyalty to Rodolphus, everyone knew it. Rodolphus was infatuated with her, of course, but Bellatrix belonged to the Dark Lord first and herself second. Anyone else came after that anymore. Bellatrix had married Rodolphus within a few months after Andromeda had left four years ago. She had carried right on serving the Dark Lord, just as she had done before.

Narcissa sipped at her coffee and leaned against the counter, wondering when Lucius would be back. She missed him. She was loyal to him and not the Dark Lord, not that it made much of a difference. Some days she even pondered if she loved him which was certainly something indeed. Lucius was certain she did love him and she didn't bother to contradict him. It did some people a lot of good to feel loved and Lucius was one of those people. She should know; she had been too.

__"Cissy," Bella laughed as Narcissa came zooming at her big sister. Mother hadn't allowed her to go to the train station in fear that she would 'make a scene.' "You're going to make me drop my bag," Bella complained but Narcissa had already moved on to Annie who was following behind. Narcissa threw her arms around her newly twelve-year-old sister just as she had done with her fourteen-year-old one.__

_ "Have you forgotten me?" Narcissa asked desperately._

_ "Of course not," Bella laughed as she moved on down the corridor to her own room._

_ "No more than Bella forgot about me," Annie told her._

_ "Do you promise?" Narcissa asked, following Annie into her bedroom._

_ "Of course," Annie answered. "I could never forget you."_

_ "Even when you're off at Hogwarts and there are people who are much more interesting? And your classes. You always talk about your classes in your letter and you actually get to use magic on purpose. You've been really excited about that," Narcissa told her._

_ "That doesn't mean I'd forget you," Annie scoffed. "Really, Cissy, how could I?"_

_ "You could be hit by a memory charm or a confundling hex," Bella suggested, waltzing into the room._

_ "Well then, Cissy would have to make me remember," Annie replied._

_ "She would too," Bella said. "She wouldn't give you a moment's peace until she felt sure you remembered her. It wouldn't matter if you remembered anything else at all, as long as you remembered her."_

_ "I'd do the same to you!" Narcissa told her older sister with a grin._

_ "I'm not weak like Annie. You can hit me with all the memory charms you want and I still won't forget you."_

_ "Really?" Cissy asked, barely noticing Annie rolling her eyes._

_ "Really," Bella said firmly, her feet planted as if daring the world to hit her and try to make her forget._

But both of them had forgotten her. Granted, they had never forgotten her because of school. They both continued to write her from Hogwarts until she had gotten there herself. They had both, in Narcissa's mind, left her for sex. Oh, she knew they would both claim otherwise. Bellatrix, if she ever got past denying she had left Narcissa at all, would say that she had left to fight for a better world, that the Dark Lord and his agenda needed all of her attention. Andromeda would say she had left because she couldn't agree with the family anymore and because she wanted to work as a Healer, which the family would never allow her to do; she would be dealing with dirty blood. Maybe she would mention something about the nameless baby she had been carrying when she'd married the mud-blood.

It was part of growing up, Narcissa supposed. They couldn't have stayed the trio of Black sisters forever. But still, Narcissa didn't like being forgotten. It made her lonely. She panged for someone to show up; she hoped for Lucius but the house remained quiet as she sipped on her coffee.

Maybe Bella was with Lucius. They did serve the same master after all. It was perfectly possible that they were together. She wondered why the Dark Lord had needed her husband on Christmas Day anyway. Apparently Dark Lord's didn't take a break for holidays. Unless Christmas was going to turn out like Halloween had. Narcissa flinched at the idea. Halloween had made the papers. Four families had ended up dead. Lucius had come home covered in blood, most of it someone else's. Narcissa hated the smell and sight of blood. She wasn't made for a messy life, not in the slightest. Bellatrix had been the one to get hurt and then keep on running, ignoring it. Andromeda had been the one to take her bandage off time and time again to see how it was healing. Narcissa had been the one to scream until someone took care of her and made it go away.

Perhaps Bella would come by after all was said and done if she was with Lucius at the moment. Although, then Rodolphus might come too and Narcissa couldn't say she liked her brother-in-law. His loyalty was deeper to the Dark Lord than Lucius's was and it made him unpleasant to be around. As Narcissa wasn't jumping to join the fight as one of the Death Eaters like her sister had, Rodolphus assumed Narcissa ought to be working on producing the next generation of pureblood fighters. Maybe she ought to be, actually, but Narcissa didn't want to be pregnant; she didn't want to bring anyone else into this mess. She didn't want a child who depended on her and then forgot her. Narcissa was the baby; she didn't want to have to care for one. She was careful not to get stuck in that situation.

"Narcissa!" someone called into the house. She placed her cup down on the counter and walked toward the voice.

"In here," she answered back. Lucius came towards her. There was indeed blood on his robes and her stomach twisted. She felt sick when he leaned in to kiss her and she pushed him away. "I can't," she told him, wrinkling her nose.

"Not even a happy Christmas?" another man's voice asked. Narcissa crossed her arms over her chest automatically as Rodolphus walked into the room.

"Cissy can't stand blood. She'll probably make us all change before she'll be pleasant," Bella said, following after her husband. Her voice was rather bored. "Happy Christmas, Cissy," she said with a cat-like smile.

"You're right. I won't talk to you unless you change," Narcissa told her, her voice dry. She knew better than to use definite words with Bella. She couldn't use "until you change" because that would assume that Bella would do what Narcissa wanted.

"Alright then, I'll be right back. I'd prefer robes of my own," Bellatrix told her, yawning. "Come on Rodolphus. Best let her have her way or she'll be horrible to live with." Narcissa nodded, trying to be joking. Rodolphus nodded and went off with his wife to apparate back to their own house for the present. Lucius began heading upstairs and after a moment, Narcissa followed him, arriving in the room as he pulled his robe off.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"It was just a bit of fun, Narcissa," he replied, grinning at her. "We got word the Aurors were coming in and we left before they were fully dead," he said. "We left before the Aurors got there." Narcissa stayed quiet in the doorway, her eyes unfocused as Lucius changed. "I know you don't like it," he told her. "But it's all in fun. Just some muggles."

"I suppose I'd better tell Dobby to get breakfast for Rodolphus and Bellatrix as well," Narcissa said and then disappeared from the room, leaving Lucius to himself. She went back down to the kitchen in hopes of finding the house-elf in his cupboard. Dobby was indeed there, curled up and asleep. Narcissa nudged him with her foot. "Get-up," she commanded. "My sister and her husband are coming for breakfast as well." Dobby blinked at her as he slowly got to his feet. "You'd best not be slow about it," Narcissa said. "Bellatrix is coming over and she doesn't have much patience." With that Dobby quickly got up and went toward the food cupboards. Narcissa headed toward the lounge.

"Better?" Lucius asked a moment later as he showed up in the lounge in clean clothes.

"Much," Narcissa said, smiling at him. "Thank you. I know I'm-"

"I like you tender-hearted," Lucius told her. He stepped closer to her. "You had trouble killing flobberworms for their mucus in potions. Of course blood isn't pleasant for you, even their blood." He brushed a hand over her cheek and then leaned forward to kiss her gently. Narcissa smiled back. Tender-hearted wasn't quite the word she would use but she supposed if Lucius wanted to do so, she'd be okay with that. To be honest, she didn't really care whose blood was on Lucius's robes unless it was his or Bella's… or Andromeda's. She would care then too. She wondered if she would care if it was Andromeda's child who was killed or if it was the mud-blood's. Sometimes, she feared she would.

"Did you have to go this morning?" Narcissa asked him.

"I had to go. I didn't have to stay," Lucius confessed. "But you were asleep. I doubted it would matter. You can't have been up very long."

"I don't like waking up alone on Christmas," she confessed. "It's Christmas," she said, looking up at him, his arms still around her.

"Duly noted," he answered.

_There was someone warm next to her in the morning and Narcissa rolled over to see her sister curled up next to her. Narcissa wasn't in her own bed. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before and she had gone into Andromeda's room, looking for someone to talk to. Bella was already there and the two of them had been playing a game on the floor._

_ "Why didn't you come and get me?" Narcissa asked._

_ "I wanted to," Bella said firmly. "Annie said you'd be asleep."_

_ "I said she was probably asleep," Annie replied in the most offended tone a seven-year-old could have. "I knew she'd come in eventually if she really wasn't."_

_ "Annie said you'd be asleep," Bella repeated, her eyes on Annie as she said it. "Do you think I'll get the broom for Christmas? Annie said no."_

_ "I think so," Cissy agreed, just to be on Bella's side._

_ "I think you're too young," Annie said._

_ "I'm older than you."_

_ "So?"_

_ "So then you won't get one either."_

_ "I don't want a broomstick," Annie replied. "I want the doll I saw in the shop window."_

_ "You're so boring," Bella told her. "I'll bet you want another one of those Haunted Castle books you love so much too with the stupid little witch and her pet dog."_

_ "She's not stupid," Annie said stubbornly. "I like reading! Go away Bella!"_

_ "Fine, they're not stupid," Bella sighed. "But you're still boring." Cissy looked between her two big sisters and didn't add to their argument. She wasn't sure who she agreed with and it didn't matter all that much. Very soon it was forgotten and eventually they got tired. Bellatrix went trotting off to her own bed but Cissy was already half asleep on Andromeda's and Annie hadn't been able to get her to move. So she had woken up on Christmas Day with her sister beside her and that was how it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to be alone on Christmas._

**Forgive me for any lack of editing on this one. I haven't proofread it very well.**


	10. The Last Time

**__I have no ownership over Harry Potter or the generation before him.**

It was snowing outside and more people then usual were bustling around, trying to find last minute Christmas presents. Occasionally, he heard the happy shout of a child or saw a couple strolling rather than quickly walking while holding hands. He was certain they were ready to apparate at a moments notice but they still stank of a lack of fear. The Dark Lord would be wise to smash down this insistence that people were unafraid of him and yet he was hardly about to suggest it. He didn't like to attack public places. There was too much of a risk of being caught and too much of a risk of hurting her.

He ducked into the apothecary, one of the less packed shops on Diagon Alley. Immediately it seemed like one of the most wonderful and horrific things he'd done in quite a while; his heart jumped up in his throat and tried to suffocate him when he heard her voice. He ducked into one of the aisles, listening to her talk to someone else. Severus wondered if the person she was talking to was Potter and the idea made his stomach ache with anger. "I haven't got a clue about any of it," a man's voice said in response to Lily's. It wasn't Potter's but it was still familiar and still slightly tormented him.

"Remus, you're going to have to learn how to make a simple pepper-up at some point in your life."

"I haven't yet," he answered. "I'll stay sick rather than staying sick _and_ sustaining potion burns, thank you."

"One of these days I'm going to cut you off from using my potions."

"Then I'll stop telling James's plan before he does something idiotic," Lupin replied. Their voices were getting closer and Severus wanted to move away but quite suddenly, when he heard her voice again, he froze. He wanted to be near her and yet he wanted to get away. He was stuck.

"You haven't even told me about half of them," Lily answered. "James still does enormously idiotic things."

"You participate quite willingly in half of those he actually goes through with."

"Don't give me that look," Lily said, a laugh it her voice. Severus found it even harder to shrink away. She had talked to him like that once, both scolding and teasing at the same time.

"What look?" Lupin asked.

"That disapproving one of yours."

"What have I ever disapproved of when it comes to you Lily?"

"You don't approve of James and me deciding to have a baby," Lily told him. Her voice had suddenly grown more serious. Severus's stomach attempted to jump up to join his heart in his throat.

"I never said anything of the sort," Lupin told her.

"But you think it," Lily answered, her voice softer. Her voice was so near. The pair of them had stopped on the other side of the shelf. If he were to take two steps, he would slip past the corner and see the two of them. "You think we're mental and we shouldn't bring a child into this." Her voice was not exactly hard, but it radiated stubbornness.

"I am happy for you two," Lupin said. "You have to know that I am. But it is dangerous right now. And sometimes I'm afraid you and James want a baby just to prove that you're not frightened of Voldemort," he said cautiously. For the first time in his life, Severus wanted to wholeheartedly agree with a Marauder. He wanted to tell Lily that having a baby with Potter was a bad idea, but of course he couldn't move and he couldn't let Lily know he'd been eavesdropping.

"See, now, was that so hard to say?" Lily asked him. "You've wanted to say that since you first found out I was pregnant." Her voice was light. Severus, however, felt like a weight had been added to his head, trying to push him down. Lily was already pregnant, with Potter's child no less. He wanted to see her both less and more. What if she was showing, Potter's child already growing under her skin? Could he bear to see it?

"Lily I don't mean to-"

"No, you should say it Remus. That's why I tried to get you to say it when I saw the opportunity. You shouldn't be dishonest and you know I respect your opinion."

"It's not my place."

"You're family."

"And you wouldn't react badly if your sister said the same thing?" Remus asked.

"I'd die of shock from hearing my sister say the word Voldemort, if that's what you mean by reacting badly." Severus almost snorted, almost.

"Lily, I'm serious."

"No, if you were you wouldn't disapprove at all. You would be overjoyed if James and I were having a baby just to prove how un-frightened we are. Come to think of it, that's probably why he's so ecstatic."

"That joke is older than the stars."

"I was hoping I could get you to smile. Oh come on now, that's a grimace, not a smile Remus." The conversation paused and Severus began trying to build up the motivation to move away but he desperately wanted to go around the shelf, to see Lily. But she was with Lupin. He didn't want to see Lupin and he definitely didn't want Lupin telling Potter that Severus had talked to Lily.

"Is that the reason why, Lily?" Remus asked her. "Are you having a baby to prove you're not frightened?"

"I think, partially, it is," Lily confessed, her voice quiet. Severus closed his eyes painfully. "And part of it is so that I know I'll get the chance. I am scared. I'm terrified really. And if I don't have a baby now, who knows if I'll ever have the chance. James could die or- or I could die." Lupin was silent. "Remus, don't say you wouldn't consider doing the same thing if you were in the same situation. If you had someone."

"I wouldn't, and thankfully I can't get anyone pregnant. My line will end with me even if by some miniscule chance I meet someone who would be willing to be with me," he told her.

"You're depressing."

"And you're mental. Do you have a point?" Lupin retorted.

"No, I suppose not," she agreed, rather resignedly. She sighed and walked around the edge of the shelf rapidly before Severus had a chance to think of moving again. She stopped where she was, her eyes wide, Lupin a step behind her. Her robes were a brown colour, her hair splaying over the shoulders. He couldn't see a bump yet. Perhaps he had misunderstood. He wanted to ask but instead he stood there, staring at her, drinking her in as if he were dying of thirst.

"I'll wait outside," Lupin said, placing his hand casually on Lily's shoulder. There was a question in the gesture and Lily gave a slight nod before Lupin slipped away. He caught Severus's eyes as he went, pausing as if looking for something. It was an inexact and untaught Legimancy, easily blocked.

"He's prying into my mind," Severus final managed as his first words when he heard the bell over the door ring.

"He doesn't mean to."

"He didn't manage it."

"Severus, how long have you been listening?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, ending the conversation about Remus's faulty Legimancy.

"If there's something you didn't want me to hear, you really shouldn't have had that conversation in public," he answered.

"I'm not ashamed of anything," Lily told him.

"You ought to be. You let Potter that near you."

"I love him, Severus," she replied, her voice rather dull and yet her eyes were bright. He didn't like that her eyes were bright.

"He's an arrogant-"

"Stop," she commanded. "I'm not saying what he did to you was good but he grew-up and you haven't."

"I've grown up plenty," he argued.

"Then why are you too afraid to fight for what you know is right?" Lily asked him. Her eyes were narrowed and he stared at her, not managing to see into her head. His own was too full to even try. "James has a good heart when you get down to it. He loves me and I love him. There's nothing more you'll understand."

"I would love you!" he insisted in a hiss, leaning close to her. "Come with me Lily. We'll leave here. You don't have to be afraid. We'll leaveBritain, leave Potter, leave the Dark Lord, leave everything, just you and me."

"I have no desire to abandon anyone."

"It's for your own safety."

"Severus go away," Lily told him, her eyes narrowed.

"Please!" he said, grabbing a hold of one of her wrists in his hand. Icily she took her other hand and removed his hand from her wrist. Her glare in contrast was fiery, burning him.

"I said no," she told him.

"He doesn't keep you safe. He's gotten you pregnant. He lets you wander alone with a werewolf! I would protect you Lily. I'll protect Potter's brat too if you ask it of me. Lily-"

"Severus, leave me alone!" she replied sharply. "You have managed in only a few seconds time to insult me, my husband, my friend, and my child. I don't want to be around you. I have no interest in sitting back and being protected from everything." She shoved passed him and walked towards the register with a few bags of potions ingredients. He noticed a bag of mistletoe with the berries still intact that had been up at the front.

"I didn't mean to insult you," he said, following after her. "I know you can protect yourself but I want to keep you safe so badly," he said. She ignored him as she passed over coins for her purchases. She thanked the saleswitch who was looking at Severus with a look of fright but Lily pretended all was normal. She walked towards the door and paused, just before she opened it.

"Good-bye Severus," she said plainly. The bell jingled over the door and Severus paused a moment, staring out the window. Lupin was by the door, as he said he would be, and the pair of them walked off down the street that was growing thick and white with snow.

He didn't know it was the last time he would see her in person, the last time he would see her alive. There was no way he could have known that she had less than two years left to live, that he would later be tortured for seven years by seeing her perfect eyes on Potter's face. He hadn't yet heard when her child would be born and wouldn't give it a second thought when he relayed the prophecy to the Dark Lord, not until it was too late. Then he would remember and search for an answer, then he would sell his service to Dumbledore for her safety but not until then.

He would spend several years trying to figure out what he could have said to make her come with and then several years coming to terms with the inevitable answer that there was nothing he could have said to make her.

**Sorry I've been missing for about a week. I underestimated my time that would be consumed by finals (amazing how much studying four finals can take, especially when they're for four completely different subjects). Then I got back home and the second night back my dad ended up in the hospital though he got to go home today, thank God. He's rather annoyed with being put on bed rest too (which is a good thing. The annoyance at having bed rest not the desire to break doctor's orders). Anyway, now that you've gotten bored by part of my life story that you didn't ask for, um, I'm gonna stop typing. Yeah...**


	11. If There Be Dungbombs

**I don't own the Weasleys or the Burrow or their relatives. Ben, Caroline, and Rachel are from by head but being Potterverse-Wizard/witches and Molly Weasley's relatives, they hardly qualify as full original.**

Perhaps he would have had more control of the situation if he hadn't had a jumpy seven-year-old beside him. He couldn't blame Ron either. Molly's aunt Muriel elicited all sorts of reactions from Arthur himself, none of them pleasant. He was fairly sure that in the two hours Muriel had been there, she had insulted everyone in the house, from Arthur to Molly's brother's infant daughter. None of his seven children had been safe.

"If you had just followed my advice, Molly, you wouldn't have all this overcrowding at the moment," Muriel burst out. Arthur glared at his plate instead of looking at her. He wasn't sure which piece of "advice" Muriel was referring to this time. Every time Molly had announced she was pregnant, Muriel had told her it was a bad idea, from Bill on down. Then again, she could also be referring to her advising Molly never to marry him at all. Apparently he had been too poor without any looks nearly decent enough to make up for his lack of money. She had threatened for a while to remove Molly from her will but had eventually seemed to dismiss the idea.

"It's cosy and after all, it is Christmas," Molly's brother Ben spoke up from further down the table. His wife Caroline next to him nodded. Their daughter Rachel was in her lap, having already eaten but crying if she was left behind. Like her father and her aunt Molly, little Rachel had bright red hair; she blended in easily with her cousins. Ben had always been the most reserved of Molly's siblings, even bordering on shy. But he seemed quite happy where he was sitting, squished between his wife and his nephew George.

"It's too much for a woman of my age. I'm a hundred and-"

"Ninety-nine," Fred inserted, a grin on his face. Arthur did his best to shoot his son a warning look but it was hard. Arthur really wanted to go around insulting Muriel too.

"Watch it young man," she snapped at Fred before turning to Molly, though her eyes flickered to Arthur as well. "If there weren't so many of them you might have a better time disciplining these boys and giving them proper moral character," she said. Arthur nearly retorted again but held his tongue, hoping not to be hypocritical to Ron who had gotten in trouble earlier in the day because he had yelled at Aunt Muriel in response to one of her insults. He had been forbidden from going outside for the rest of the day which of course had made him a bundle of nerves, bouncing in his seat next to Arthur. Personally, Arthur felt there wasn't anything in particular wrong with the moral character of his children. While certainly all of them got into trouble in their own ways it rarely had anything to do with their morals.

"This is delicious Molly," Caroline spoke up, trying to break the tension. "I'll have to remember to ask you for some advice. Ben teases me terribly on my cooking." She had one of those almost too sweet to believe voices and yet Arthur had learned that her voice was just a quality of Caroline. She was kind almost to a fault.

"Don't let him tease you," Molly said, deciding for the time being to pretend as if she hadn't heard her aunt, which was probably for the best. Arthur had seen her flushing slightly with anger. "I'm sure your cooking is just fine."

"Oops!" Ron squealed right as Arthur heard some sort of clattering noise.

"You little-"

"Charlie!" Arthur spoke harshly, cutting off his newly-fifteen-year-old.

"He dumped his milk all over me!"

"It was an accident!" Ron protested. "I didn't mean to hit it!"

"Well maybe you wouldn't have if you weren't jumping around! If you would just sit-"

"Charlie!" Arthur repeated as he used his wand to siphon up the milk that had been spilled on the table.

"But he is being-"

"It was an accident," Arthur repeated. Charlie was fixing Ron with one of his best death stares. Arthur could have sworn he had stolen in right from Molly. Ron whimpered, even as Arthur scooted him back in his chair to dry off the milk on his clothes.

"I'm sorry Charlie," he said, he eyes wide.

"Charlie stand up and I'll dry you off as well," Arthur sighed. Charlie's face went solid but he stood up as well. Arthur pushed in Ron's chair and then dried off Charlie's clothes. He understood why Charlie was in a bad mood. He had been downstairs when Muriel had arrived and gotten to hear her ranting at him for his hair that was apparently too long, the marks on his face he had gotten when helping Professor Kettleburn chase down an injured hippogriff who was refusing help before the holiday, and his lack of ambition (which in Muriel's mind was defined by a wizard not wanting to be Minister for Magic). Charlie had then spent the rest of the day sulking in his room until dinner, still in a sour mood. Still, it wasn't an excuse for his snapping at Ron, just a reason.

"You're too similar to your sister. You shouldn't break down in tears so easily," Muriel told Ron. Ron opened his mouth to respond and Arthur put his hand on Ron's shoulder to remember him to keep his temper. Muriel had called Ron girlish earlier too. Ron certainly looked sensitive compared with Fred and George but he wasn't girly. His idolizing of Bill and Charlie gave the older two boys a huge amount of power over his emotions, which Charlie hadn't yet figured out, thankfully. Ginny was the same way however she wasn't girly either. Charlie and the twins had been sure to keep her away from that. Bill and Percy would have coddled her given the choice. Ron was close enough to her in age that he saw her as a playmate before a girl who had to be coddled or kept from being girly.

"I don't cry!" Ginny said stubbornly. Arthur could practically hear Charlie coaching her.

"Of course you do," Muriel replied. "All little girls cry."

"I'm not that little!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginevra!" Molly scolded.

"None of them know how to speak to their elders, Margaret! You and that Weasley boy ought to be ashamed."

"Arthur," he insisted. "And she's Molly, not Margaret."

"I told your parents it was ridiculous to name you Molly plain," Muriel countered, ignoring Arthur. If Ron hadn't started squirming again at Arthur's side, perhaps he would have noticed George glancing at the clock. If Molly hadn't been pink with rage and yet attempting to rein in an infuriated Ginny she would have noticed Fred fidgeting in his seat. But as it was, neither of them noticed the tell tale signs of trouble until a smell starting seeping up from the end of the table.

Percy covered his face and Bill wrinkled his nose; they were the ones sitting closest to Muriel. Fred, who was next to Bill began dramatically fanning the air in front of his nose. Rachel started to cry and Caroline scooted back her chair, seeming grateful for an excuse to leave the room as she dashed away with the distressed baby. "Aunt Muriel, don't you know you're supposed to say pardon me?" George asked, way too innocently and way to scripted. She shot daggers at him and Fred with her eyes.

"Mum!" Ginny cried, attempting to cover her nose with her sweater.

"Go get your cloaks and go outside," Molly told her and then looked up at the others. Ron, who had been doing some sort of dance in his chair to get rid of the smell, now knocked over his chair in an attempt to get out. There was a hard clunk that Arthur knew the chair hadn't made and Ron started to cry holding his head. Percy had run away faster than any of them had known Percy could run with Charlie and Bill right behind him. Ben had taken Ginny's hand and dragged her from the room. Arthur bent down next to Ron who had attempted to get up and then, dizzy, fallen back down and hit his head again, this time on the table. "You two stay right here!" Molly hollered at Fred and George who were slinking away. There was blood on Ron's forehead from where he'd hit the table and Arthur forced his stomach not to turn; he hated blood.

"Molly, I'm going to get him out of here," Arthur said, scooping Ron up into his arms. The smell couldn't be helping his head wound. Muriel was starting to rant though she hadn't yet found the smouldering remains of a dungbomb beneath her chair. Arthur had a feeling it was one of the delayed release ones Charlie and Bill had gotten the twins for Christmas and he reminded himself to have it out with Bill and Charlie later.

Half an hour later, Arthur stood in the garage with a shamefaced looking Bill and Charlie. His arms felt like they were about to fall off because he had fixed Ron's cut and then given him a potion for his pounding headache which had made the little boy fall into a deep sleep. Caroline was leaning against the wall with Rachel in her arms. Ben was outside building a snowman with Ginny and Percy.

"I can't believe those two!" Molly raged crashing into the garage. Bill and Charlie exchanged a look and then slipped out the door before it had even fully swung closed. "They're still attempting to go with the story that it was Muriel's flatulence, not a dungbomb, even after Aunt Muriel told them she felt an explosion under her seat and we found the remains of a dungbomb." She had a growl in her voice but she moved towards Arthur and he smiled at her, wishing he could lend her an arm but he was afraid if he let one of his arms move from Ron, he would drop his son.

"Where are Fred and George?"

"I left them with Aunt Muriel. If she thinks she can discipline them better than I can, I'll let her try," Molly said, crossing her arms over her chest. Caroline raised her eyebrows.

"Who are you trying to punish," Arthur asked, "Fred and George or your aunt?" Molly gave him a warm smile but the devious look that Fred and George had gotten from her gleamed in her eyes.

"Fred and George of course," she said. If he hadn't known her so well, Arthur probably would have believed her. Maybe.

**End of chapter.**


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